Archie Bronson Quartet:
Wild Crush:
Domino:
CD/LP/DD:
Out Now:
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Somerset psych-rock exiles ABQ have been quietly (and noisily) knocking out earthy produce for the best part of 10 years. But while the likes of Black Keys, Flaming Lips and Tame Impala have been garnering audiences, acclaim and award-nominations, the less pretty Archie Bronson Quartet have been squirrelled away by a hardcore fan-base.
Using traces of '60s blues-rock and filtering it through the blender might not be a completely new idea but ABQ do it well enough. On the opening fireball Two Doves On A Lake, riffs swirl, drums rumble and singer Sam Windett sounds no more vocally-improved than on the band's comparatively primitive debut-album Fur. It's a great start - there's a bit of guitar-shredding going on that reminds me of David Lowery's Cracker, with similar freak-outs also present in the form of We Are Floating and Cluster Up and Hover.
Where this album tends to differ from earlier releases is on the more languid, laid-back workouts such as the funereal Lori From The Outer Reaches and the Velvets-influenced 'pop-song' vignette Glory, Sweat and Flow. A newly-discovered confidence oozes from every pore and for the first time in a while, ABQ sound like a band ready for larger venues and a bit of critical lurve. But they're safe - Windett's possessed hollering on Hunch Your Body, Love Somebody is enough to keep them firmly locked away for enjoyment only by their partisan fan-base for another few years yet. Odd and compelling.
Wild Crush:
Domino:
CD/LP/DD:
Out Now:
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Using traces of '60s blues-rock and filtering it through the blender might not be a completely new idea but ABQ do it well enough. On the opening fireball Two Doves On A Lake, riffs swirl, drums rumble and singer Sam Windett sounds no more vocally-improved than on the band's comparatively primitive debut-album Fur. It's a great start - there's a bit of guitar-shredding going on that reminds me of David Lowery's Cracker, with similar freak-outs also present in the form of We Are Floating and Cluster Up and Hover.
Where this album tends to differ from earlier releases is on the more languid, laid-back workouts such as the funereal Lori From The Outer Reaches and the Velvets-influenced 'pop-song' vignette Glory, Sweat and Flow. A newly-discovered confidence oozes from every pore and for the first time in a while, ABQ sound like a band ready for larger venues and a bit of critical lurve. But they're safe - Windett's possessed hollering on Hunch Your Body, Love Somebody is enough to keep them firmly locked away for enjoyment only by their partisan fan-base for another few years yet. Odd and compelling.